Venetian blind



May 13,-1941. N Re. 21,800

VENETIAN BLIND Original Filed April 10, 1937 I INVENTOR. 10%; l Kafizz.

In}! J Ziarney- Reissued' May 13, 1941 Original No.

This invention broadly relates to Venetian blinds, and especiallypertains to the art of surtheir, slats, top and tilting rails.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a Venetianblind structure having the usual major characteristics of that type ofshades or shutters, with the exception that the exposed surfaces of theslats and rails are attractively covered by means of'a relativelyinexpen sive, but highly serviceable, moisture-proof, originallypliable, sheeting which, when applied to a relatively infirm,inexpensive base in accord- .ance with my method, will harden andprovide,

appreciablereinforcement for such base in the different parts of theblind structure, and especially for the slats, which, due to theirconstant subject to sagging and distortion.

A further object of this invention is to provide a highly attractive,expensive-appearing, well made Venetian blind structures from ratherinexpensive and even cheap materials, and which structures possess thesturdiness and durability type.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shutter for Venetianblinds wherein a covering of cloth, paper,'or the like is provided, andpositioned on the base so as to present a substantially integralappearing article.

In order to meet the ever increasing trend towards incorporating beauty,good taste and aesthetic appearance in usually serviceably, but oftenclumsily unattractive articles of everyday use in homes and offices,attempts have been made in the art of manufacturing Venetian blinds toenhance their eye appeal by various methods. In a great number ofinstances such attempts resulted in the production of blinds which wereeither prohibitive in cost, or too massive and too heavy for practicaluse; some would have the tendency of breaking and others would sag, warpor twist and are rendered inoperative due to their light, flimsyconstruction.

In most of the recent developments, either translucent blinds or blindsof difierent color and slats were either coated with paints, lacquer orother coloring materials of varying hues, or were decorated bynumerously applied ornabe applied manually and requires skill and time.Consequently blinds of this type are costly and facing exposed parts ofVenetian blinds such as.

in addition to exterior ornamental effects, an,

exposure to the elements are vulnerable and.

usually expected in most costly blinds of this schemes were employed,inthat both the rails 'UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE 2,123,010, dated my5, 1938, Serial No. 136,221, April 10, 1937. issue July 29, 1939, SerialNo. 288,158

. Application for recan not be produced economically on a larger scale.Moreover. the application of colors to Venetian blinds has itslimitations. In the first place, it is expensive. especially whencoloring material is used which is to withstand protracted exposure tothe elements, and secondly in order to keep the cost within reason, eachrail and slat could at best be painted with two diflerent colors, one ateach of its faces. More attractive ornamentations, such as paintedflowers or other configurations, produced by the application ofdifferent colors would be prohibitive in cost.

The present invention broadly contemplates the production of highlyattractive ornamental the form of either paper or flexible fabrics ofall kind.

It is further contemplated that such sheet material is to be suitablyornamented or colored before being used in my surfacing process; thatthe sheet material is to possess such a small degree of body firmnessthat it may be easily applied to, and that it will readily shape itselfto conform with the contour of a suitable base: that such base is topossess a somewhat greater body firmness than the sheet material; thatsomewhat prior to associating the sheet material I with the base, asuitable adhesive, for intimately mental strips. All such decorativematter must securing together the two elements, is applied to the sheetmaterial and is spread over its entire future inner surface area saidadhesive tending to soften and to render still more pliable the sheetmaterial, while the latter is .being moved towards the point at which itbecomes actually associated with the base; and that such adhesive, whenbecoming dry, is to stiffen and render the finished, sheet-covered baserigid, R

strong and serviceable.

My invention further contemplates to so prepare the sheeting beforeapplying it to the base, that it forms one continuous piece of such ashape, width and length that, when first applied, it will completelyenvelope the body, and will extend beyond the ends of the base, no

matter where the edges of the applied sheeting meet in respect to thebase, or in which manner or position the sheeting edges are joined, aslong as they fully cover the base.

The foregoing objects and other important features of my inventionwill'become more fully understood from the ensuing description of theaccompanying drawing, which, although illustrating but one embodiment ofmy invention, is by no means intended to limit me to the specificstructures shown, but on the contrary is to serv for explanatorypurposes only.

In the drawing: Fig. l is an elevation of a Venetian blind constructedaccording to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the complete shutters shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of the shutter shownin Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a diagram partly in section illustrating part of the method ofapplying a covering to a rail 3, together with actu'atint eablesi andsunmmnz straps or bands 5, Each of the shutters I is formed with a base6 which may be of wood, paper, fiber, or other material. However, mostof the shutters are made from wood because they are light and yetsufficiently strong to perform the desired result. Heretoi'ore shuttersformed of wood or other material have been coated with paint or othercoloring matter to present a certain designeifect. flowers and otherconfigurations could not be provided, except at very great expense.

One of the many possible ways of completely surfacing or enveloping thevarious parts of Venetian blinds with a pliable sheeting is shown inFig. 3, where the base i is covered with a paper or textile fabriccovering .1 which .is overlapped at 8 adjacent one of the longitudinaledges of base I. The covering I, while preferably of However, by thismethod fabric, may be made from any other flexible sheet material, andconsequently when the expression "fabric" is used it will be understoodthat these other elements are equivalent.

InI igs. 4 to 6 diagrams have been presented illustrating the method ofmanufacturing or producing the complete shutter as shown in Fig.

3. As illustrated in Fig. 4, there is provided a supply of sl'atcovering material in the form of sheeting or fabric 9 which ispreferably slightly wider than the base i is long. This sheeting ispassed beneath an adhesive applying roller it which receives adhesivefrom the container II and applies the same to one, preferably the futureinterior surface of'the fabric 8'. After the latter passes the adhesiveapplying roller it it moves on to a table II and when a desired lengthor section is on the table I! the knife it functions to sever thesheeting. The severed section is then moved forwardly a short distanceand a base 6 applied thereto near one edge. The edge ll of the sheetingis then turned over the edge of the base, and then the base is turnedover against sheeting portion II to overlap edge II as illustrated atthe extreme right in Fig. 4.

The work on table I! is done by hand, and after the base I has beencompletely wrapped, as just described, it is placed on a table ll andthen fed between squeezing rollers l1 and II which pres! the coatedfabric tightly against the base and also press the overlapped edge; Itogether. Rollers I I and ll are preferably formed of rubber 'or otherresilient material. After the wrapped base has passed the squeemngrollers l1 and II, it is set aside until the adhesive has completelydried. The unfinished shutter is then taken to a suitable machine forcutting the cable slots II and 2|. It will be noted that the cutter, informing the slots ll and 20. cuts through the fabric as well as the base8. After this has been done the ends are trimmed oil" so that thefinished shutter, as shown in Fig. 2, will be of the desired length.Preferably the ends are cut of! by a suitable saw along the respectivelines II and If.

While the aforedescribed steps of my method are intended to explain theproduction of slats of and it COHIDIBWIY BIIYEIOPCS the 515i body andextends beyond its end until both the slat body and; its coveringmaterial are trimmed together to the proper size.

Another important feature of my invention, directly resulting from myprocess, is the superior structural characteristics of the finishedproduct. The base, made from relatively inexpensive, infirm material,such as thin wood, or

the like does not in itself possess abundant body strength tosuccessfully resist sagging, bending, twisting or warping, brought aboutby changing exposure to dampness, moisture and heat. My method isdesigned to not only reduce the cost of a Venetian blind structure, butto strengthen its essential elements made from relatively weak,

, cheap materials. n

It is quite obvious to any one that paper sheeting, even in two layers,possesses little body firmness. Similarly long, thin, singlestrips ofwood present little assurance of strength. When however such wood stripsare completely enveloped by a moisture and heat resisting sheeting offabric, paper, or other sheet material which intimately adheres with itsentire surface area to the entire surface area of the strips, and whenthe sheeting and the adhesive joining the adjacent surfaces become dryand acquire strength and stiffness of their own, it becomes very clearthat the strips are materially strengthened and reinforced by the dried,stiffened covering and the dried adhesive, and that they acquire arigidity and consequent serviceability, which even ex pensive slatmaterial does not possess.

It is to be noted as one of the features of my invention that theapplication of suitable adhesives to the different types of coveringmaterial has a twofold purpose. Firstly, the adhesive is intended tosoften the covering material so that it will readily shape itself to andexactly acquire the contour of the base; its second function is to draw,while drying, the covering against 'ingtothat the surface of the base.This second function is made possible only by reducing the thickness ofthe adhesive layer to the utmost thinness during the squeezing step ofmy process, which step incidentally hastens the drying period for theadhesive and the covering.

As illustrated particularly in Fig, 7, each of the shutters 3 isprovided with a metal cap 23 at each end. This cap may be of the samecolor as the covering fabric or paper or of a'niiferent color,

as for instance chromium or silver plated metal.

The use of the caps 23 is important in that it not only presents apleasing appearance but it finishes the ends of the shutters. In cuttingthe ends along the lines 2| and 22 as shown in Fig, 6 it sometimesoccurs that the cutting is more or less irregular and therefore would beobjectionable if left uncovered. The caps 23 not only cover theirregular end formation but are squeezed to pinch the shutter andthereby stiffen and strengthen the same.

In addition, the apertures i9 and 20 may be provided with slots l9 and20 extending to the edge of the shutter. A hollow rivet or eyelet 24 maybe arranged in each of the slots i8 and III.

1 These eyelets have extensions 25 and 28 that protect and reinforce theedges of the radiating slots i9 and 20'. It is to be noted that eyeletportions 25 and-26 extend only to the edge of the shutter but not acrossthe edge. One end of the rivet or eyelet 24 is completed usuallybeforeit is applied to the shutter and then the other end is bent over asillustrated in Figs. 2 and '7 so as to grip the shutter and not onlyprotect the raw edges around the slots but act as reinforcing means forthe slots. The slots l9 and III are desirable in that they will permit ashutter to be completely applied and removed bypulling the cable throughthe slot. For instance, if a shutter should become broken at some pointintermediate the ends of the blind, it could be quickly removed and anew one substituted without dismantling or wtihout even taking the blindfrom its supports. Also all of the shutters could be a removed and sentback to the factory to have new coverings placed thereon wheneverdesired. It will be understood that the slots l9 and 20' are slightlyless in width than the normal diameter of the supporting cables so thatthe cables must be compressed slightly in order to be moved through theslots. In this way the shutters are properly held in position untilpositively moved to a disengaged position.

The preceding matter is chiefly. directed towards the production ofslats in accordance with my method. Since the structure of a Venetianblind would be incomplete without the top and tilt rails, and inasmuchas these parts of the blind should harmonize in appearance with theslats, it is quite evident that they must be surfaced in a mannersimilar to that employed in covering the slats. For this reason I preferto apply over the rail bodies sheeting correspondused upon the slats,and in addition to provide, especially for bottom tilt rail 3', end capssimilar to slat caps 23, but correspondin ly larger in size.

surfacing of slats, the head or top rail must be covered differently,since its profile is rather complicated by the provision of a bottomgroove for accommodating the actuating cords and some operatingmechanism.

Recapitulation v In order to obtain satisfactory results by my method ofsurfacing slats or other elements of Venetian blinds with flexiblecovering, it is essential that the interior or applied surfaces of thesheeting. fully and intimately contact with the entire surfce areas ofthe base. The formation of air spaces between the covering and the basemust be carefully avoided and the' adherence of the sheeting to the basemust be permanent and perfect. For this reason the adhesive employed inmy process must have the properties of not only softening the covering,immediately prior to its application, but must be .capable of effectinga strong, smooth adherence between the covering and the base, whensqueezed to a minutely thin adhesive layer.

\ The surfacing material for Venetian blind elements consist, accordingto my method, of a continuous, one-piece sheeting which completelyenvelopes the body of the element, and which, upon becoming dry, willform an effective reinforcement for the originally relativelyweakstructured base of the element. '1

The finished product presents a highly at" claims.

I claim:

1. An element for Venetian blinds consisting of a relatively solid basecovered with a one-piece pliable material, an adhesive coating appliedto the inner face of the material, said material completely envelopingand snugly and intimately adhering to the full contour of the base, andwherein said base, although being solid. lacks in structural firmness,and wherein said pliable material and the adhesive coating, when dry,constitute a substantial reinforcement for the base when the element isin its finished state.

2. A Venetian blind element having a base member made of a relativelysolid but comparatively weak material, a pliable substantially sheetlikeone-piece ornamental covering applied to the wall sides of the basemember and intimately united thereto by an adhesive. which lattersoftens the covering to make a tight wrapand tends to stiffen the blindelement when dried.

LEWIS I. KAHN.

